Chaos in Belgium

Dr Munro had obtained permission from the Belgian Army to base his Flying Ambulance Corps at their Front, and within a matter of days Mairi Chisholm found herself in Belgium along with the rest of the Corps.

As well as about six men, the Corps consisted of four women:

Mairi Chisholm

An American called Helen Gleason

Lady Dorothy Fielding

Elsie Knocker, who was to become Mairi's close friend and working partner.

In her 1976 interview Mairi describes the chaotic situation in which they found themselves:

'Of course, the Belgians had not expected a war, and their medical arrangements were mixed … and their men were in a terrible state, they hadn't got hospital equipments or anything. And so it was really a rescue affair and a great emergency.'